For the last 25 years or so, I've covered Columbia Borough Council meetings for the three newspapers that were in our town. I've seen a lot of people come and go; a lot of people not only serve on borough council, but, sit in the audience, that had some great ideas and others that well were a waste of time.
You might say I've seen it all. But over the last year or so, seeing the council meetings from a different venue, that of a citizen who loves my town and someone who wants to help.
I want to help make our town a better place to live, work and have some fun in.
I knew for a few weeks before Anna Gerlitzki officially resigned that there might be an opening on borough council. So I started thinking about possibly applying for the vacant seat or even waiting to run in the next election.
For about a month or so, I was torn between not applying for the opening and applying for it. I had the letter Well, after much consideration and thought on my part, I dropped off my letter of intent last Tuesday night when I was downtown for the Business Expo, sponsored by the Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce.
So, why did I apply? One, to help my community be/become the best town in Lancaster County. I think after 25 years of covering meetings, I've seen all the ideas and have ideas of my own that might help our town move forward. Two, it is something I've wanted to do for a few years, but wasn't in the position to do it. Now, I have the time to do it and hopefully help.
As for what my plans are, if I am the person selected for the council seat, I will tell you I will work very hard to serve the 10,000 plus residents of our town. One of the first things, if selected for the opening on borough council that I will do, is ask to meet with all the current members of council, staff and others to find out what is going on, what is planned and what I can do to help move things along. Yes, I have some concerns about different issues in town and hopefully they can be addressed. I am all for everyone -- council, staff and citizens working together and all for openness of letting people know and understand what is going on.
If I am selected as the appointed member of borough council, my door will always be open and I look forward to speaking with everyone to get their ideas, good and bad. I will work hard and hopefully be able to fit in.
I will continue to use this blog to let people know and understand what is going on in our town and it won't always be from my point of view as well.

After four weeks of non-league games and a 1-3 record, the Columbia Crimson Tide gets to start all over again this week when they host the Elco Raiders in their first Section 3 game of the season.
The Raiders, who were expected to possibly challenge Lancaster Catholic for the Section 3 title, are an un-Elco like 0-4. They were beaten Friday night in their Section 3 opener by Northern Lebanon by a 33-28 score.
While Elco, coached by Mark Evans is 0-4, they have lost three of their games by a total of 15 points.
Part of Elco's problem is at quarterback. They lost their starting QB prior to their first game and were forced to move RB Tyler George to QB.
George, along with Dylan Hickernell, have combined for more than 300 yards rushing, while Eric Ondo has caught passes for ore than 300 yards.
The Tide is celebrating Homecoming on Friday and is looking for their first win over the Raiders in four seasons and just their third in eight seasons.NOTES: Here's something to ponder. The combined records of Columbia's first four opponents was 10-6. The combined records of the Tide's next four opponents is 4-12. Columbia's last win over Elco was in 2007 by a 30-22 score. In the last two games, the Raiders have outscored the Tide 114-46.

Here are some news and notes on the Columbia football team after four non-league games, heading into Friday's Section 3 opener with Elco.
* The Tide has led in the first half of three of its four games -- the lone exception was Friday's game with Boiling Springs.
* Columbia has played teams in York, Cumberland and Berks County. They play the next three games against teams from Lebanon County.
* Last season after four games, the Tide was 0-4 and three of the four games ending in the Mercy Rule.
* Seth Lefever leads the tackle chart with 28 followed by Marcus Fischer with 26. Michael Burke leads the Tide in sacks and tackles for loss. John Marley leads the Tide with two picks.
* On offense, the Tide has rushed for 729 yards, with Brock Taylor leading the way with 216. QB Tyler Harrison has completed 46 of 73 passes for 636 yards and eight scores. Burke is the leading receiver with 23 catches for 385 yards and seven scores, followed by DJ Wells with nine and Nick Nobile and Seth Lefever with seven each.
* Defensively, the Tide has given up 1,009 in four games on the ground and 517 through the air, 294 of them coming against Daniel Boone.

Good looking turf field
Friday, the Tide played on turf for the second time in four games. The other was against Northeastern. It will be the best field the Tide will play on this year.
The helicopter flyover before the game was a planned event and added a nice touch to the opening.
I'm sure this will get some comments, but the concession stand food was good. The cheeseburger (yes just one, but it was a double cheeseburger) I had before the game was awesome and the chicken corn soup was good, but a little too spicy for me. Best upcoming stands will be Northern Lebanon, who usually has pretty good soups and Annville-Cleona, who has the best hot dogs in the league.
What I didn't like was the hundreds of young people walking around the "walking" track during the game, often interfering with people watching the game. It seemed more like a social event than a football game. My question is why go to the game if you aren't going to watch it. Did notice the Bubblers had a student section.
Among those seen walking around was PIAA Executive Director Brad Cashman.

Injuries mount
Two players were injured. John Markley left the game early in the second quarter with an arm injury and was in a sling. Brock Taylor left the game late in the first half. Not dressed for the game were Lamar Porras, Quincy Mancotywa, Tyler Dietz, Dion Matthews, Chris Murray and Victor Rivera. Matthews and Dietz are out with shoulder injuries.

Offensive numbers
Quarterback Tyler Harrison, who is recovering from an ankle injury and didn't have a full week of practice, had a big game. He was 22 of 35 with one pick for 266 yards and one score. Michael Burke caught a season-high nine balls for 95 yards and a score. Harrison completed passes to have different receivers.
DJ Wells caught six balls for 92 yards and also rushed for 58 yards and a score.

Defensive numbers
Still not good. Columbia gave 246 yards on the ground, including 168 to Ryan Miller. QB Jared Bliss made the most of his seven pass attempts, completing six for 98 yards and two scores. Seth Lefever was the top tackler for the game with eight stops.

Extra points
The Tide continues to struggle with points after scores. They converted one of three, a two-point conversation late in the game from Harrison to Burke. They are 2 of 7 in one-point conversions this year and 3 of 8 in two-point conversions.

Other numbers
The Tide has been outscored in the second quarters of games, 39-27 this season and 41-18 in the third quarters. They have dominated first quarters, outscoring their four opponents, 31-20. Columbia outscored the opposition, 37-36 in the fourth quarter.

Here is the weekly update of Columbia graduates playing college football.
At Kutztown, Colby Tuell caught six passes for 84 yards in a 52-14 win over Cheyney. For the year, he is second on the team in receptions, 16 for 211 yards.
At Juniata, Brandon Felus started at defensive end in a loss at F&M.
Lebanon Valley was off this week.

The difference in a win and a loss for the Columbia football team came down to a couple of missed opportunities. Those opportunities added up to a 35-20 non-league loss to Boiling Springs.
On the turf at Boiling Springs, the Tide was moving the ball on offense, but didn’t come up with many big plays on defense until the second half.

The Bubblers scored their first points of the game on their first drive. BS went 76 yards in nine plays, scoring on a 6-yard run by Ryan Miller to take a 7-0 lead with 6:37 left in the first quarter.

After punting on their first possession of the game, the Tide got its offense untracked on their second offensive series.

Starting at their own 20, the Tide behind the passing of Tyler Harrison moved to the BS 4. On the Harrison, the Tide junior quarterback completed three passes to Michael Burke and one to Seth Lefever.

But with four cracks to score inside te four, the Tide couldn’t dent the goal line and gave the ball back to the Bubblers.

After both teams traded punts, BS went in for another score. This time, the Bubblers started at their own 25 and 75 yards and 14 plays later, QB Jared Bliss found Roland Miller and the Bubblers were ahead 14-0 with three minutes left in the first half.

Right before half, the Tide had its second opportunity to score. Columbia got to the Bubbler 11, before self destructing.

The Bubblers went ahead 21-0 on their opening drive of the second half. Starting near midfield, the Bubblers scored with 9:46 left in the quarter on a second Bliss touchdown pass.

Back came the Tide. Behind the running of DJ Wells, Harrison and Johnny Vazquez, the Tide reached the BS 11. On first down, Wells sprinted in from the 11. The Tide botched the PAT and trailed 21-6 with 4:40 left in the third quarter.

Inspired, the Tide forced the Bubblers to punt and got something going again. Starting near midfield, the Tide scored again, this time on a 24-yard pass from Harrison to Burke. Again, Columbia failed to convert the two-point conversion and trailed 21-12 with 68 seconds left in the third quarter.

But the Bubblers answered. Bliss scored, ending a 12-play, 84-yard drive, scoring with 6:33 left in the fourth quarter to take a 28-12 lead.

Columbia answered the score again. Harrison hit passes to Burke, Wells and Nick Nobile to move to the BS 1. Harrison scored on a 1-yard sneak. This time, Columbia converted the two-point conversion as Harrison found Burke in the end zone. With 3:35 left in the game, Columbia trailed 28-20.

But BS iced the game, needing just three plays against a gambling Tide defense, scoring on a 25-yard run by David Cook with 2:22 left.

Columbia tried to comeback. They moved to the BS 11 but a Harrison pass was picked off in the end zone to end the game.